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donate Summary for Vikerkaar 7-8/2005
The July/August issue of Vikerkaar is devoted to the revival of south Estonian language and culture. From the seventeenth until the end of the nineteenth century, there existed two literary languages in the Estonian territory. The New Testament was first published in South Estonian (in 1686), but by the beginning of the twentieth century, the north Estonian language had prevailed. Kristiina Ross, researcher at the Institute of the Estonian Language, considers the administrative, ecclesiastic, geographic, and demographic reasons behind the demise of the south Estonian literary language.
Heiki Valk, archaeologist from the University of Tartu, gives an overview of the historical roots of the cultural and linguistic differences between south and north Estonia.
Kaido Kama, the director of the Võro Institute, an institution established in 1995 with the aim of advancing south Estonian culture and language (www.wi.ee), describes the present state of south Estonian language and culture and the further aims of the movement: development of literary language, enhancement of its prestige with the help of electronic media, education, literature, and so on. The further aim of the Võro and Seto (South Estonian) movement is to gain recognition as a regional language protected by the European Charter of Regional and Minority Languages. There is still a growing reluctance among the Estonian political and cultural elite to grant language status to South Estonian. (As the saying goes: Language is a dialect with a fleet and army). This issue of Vikerkaar, which also features the works of many authors writing in South Estonian and artists of south Estonian background, has already provoked a painful reaction from a prominent newspaper columnist. Enn Soosaar writing in Postimees (www.postimees.ee/040805/esileht/173225.php) sees in the activities of Võru Institute "a fragmentation of human and financial resources", "a creation of an artificial rival inside or besides the Estonian language", and "a dangerous frivolity".
Published 2005-08-17
Original in English
Contributed by Vikerkaar
© Vikerkaar
© Eurozine
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